New iPad (2017), Refurbished iPad Mini/Air 2, or Android Tablet?

[geokilla]

I've had the Nexus 7 (2012) since.... 2012, and I've barely touched it for the past year because it's so slow. I want to replace it with a different tablet and am currently leaning towards the new iPad that was released. The reviews are all fairly positive with the exception of the screen being a bit of a let down since it is not laminated. How big of a problem is this? I'm not sure if the screen on my Nexus 7 is laminated or not, but I know the screen on most, if not all phones are. The iPad is larger than my Nexus 7 so it's not nearly as portable but I don't think I'll carry the iPad out often.

Another option is to get a refurbished iPad Mini 2 or iPad Air 2, or even an Android tablet. Though Android tablets are pretty bad now and feel just like a larger smartphone that cannot be used to make phone calls.

I run Android phones and always read how Apple has dominated the tablet ecosystem, which I tend to agree.

Looks like the Xiaomi Mi Pad 2 or Mi Pad 3 should be added on my list to consider as well? It looks pretty promising!

 

[DaveSimmons]

What do you do with your tablet?

I have a $50 Kindle Fire with 128 GB SD card for my music collection. It works fine for ebooks, music, and simple games.

 

[Commodus]

I'd say new iPad as well. I still have the original iPad Air, which has a similar display... and it's fine indoors, which is where you'll be using it. The price is right, it'll be a bit faster than the iPad Air 2, and 32GB of storage is enough if you're not doing anything particularly demanding.

The sad bit about Android tablets: it's mostly Google's fault. The Play Store has never had a good way of promoting tablet apps, and Google's solution to writing tablet-friendly apps has largely boiled down to "throw in a few lines of scaling code and it'll solve everything!" So you end up with apps that are barely better-suited to a tablet than a phone app, and developers who don't really pour effort into tablet-native interfaces. The iPad ends up being better simply because Apple actually cares about the experience, even if it doesn't have to do much these days.

 

[NTMBK]

I'm in the same boat as you, my wife's Nexus 7 2013 is dying and I'm looking for a replacement. I'm kind of tempted by the Huawei Mediapad M3 8.0- it's got a Kirin 950 CPU, which is pretty good for a tablet that price. My main concern is shitty Huawei skins on top of Android :\ I really wish Google would make an updated Nexus 7!